Transgender
and gender diverse persons in Uganda experience significant health and health
care inequality perpetuated by a social political and legal environment that
instigates a lot of stigma and discrimination against them. The barriers that impede optimal access to
health care for transgender and gender diverse parsons include: fear of discrimination, inconvenient
operating hours of public health facilities, issues of name and gender
identification of trans persons among others.
62%
of the respondents, from
the TNU 2018 Trans Needs Assessment, expressed needs for health
care.
The key expressed health needs were:
HIV care and treatment
(28.1%), treatment for
sexually transmitted infections/diseases (21.0%), gender affirming
health care-surgery
(22.3%), the
need for hormones expressed (17.0%) and 11% for mental health services. The assessment found major barriers to
accessing health care to be; lack of money to buy medicine
(22%) and for transportation to a health facility (43%) of the respondents.
While the public health system in Uganda
could and should meet these expressed health needs for transgender persons,
transgender persons encounter serous barriers to effectively demand, access and
utilize existing public health services to meet their health care needs. Key
the barriers that transgender persons face is stigma and discrimination in
health care settings which curtails the participation in the planning,
organization and monitoring of health service delivery.
The priority service components under this
program include; the trans health care center, regional drop in centers of
excellence and trans health outreach. Services provided to the community
include general medical services, wellness services, HIV prevention, Sexual
reproductive health rights and Mental health services.
TRANSGENDER JUSTICE PROGRAM
Although the 1995
constitution of the republic of Uganda, provides for equality and
non-discrimination of persons regardless of their race, tribe, gender,
religion, extra. The prevailing social norms and legal system in Uganda remains
very hostile towards trans and gender non-confirming persons. A transgender
needs assessment study conducted by TNU in 2018 found that a significant
proportion of transgender persons face a range of discrimination, stigma and
violence in all places. Over 41% of the transgender persons who participated in
the study have experienced violence in public places including health
facilities, restaurants and even schools.
Over the years, trans and
gender diverse people have been the face of the LGBTIQ+ community in Uganda
majorly because of their gender expressions. Uganda as a society is littered
with biases that continue to perpetuate stigma, discrimination, and violence
against the trans community. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Uganda, particularly LGBTIQ+ rights
organizations, continuously face challenges that include intimidation from
government, media restrictions and interference of work by government agencies.
As a network, we continue
to implement initiatives with the aim of changing the status quo and to build a
Uganda where trans and gender diverse persons are recognized and can freely
express themselves without any prejudices. The organization has worked in partnership with
different stakeholders to advocate for the promotion and protection of the
rights of trans persons in Uganda and has developed
strong relations with a number of CSOs and projects.
The priority service components under this
program include; trans health rights advocacy, access to justice, strategic
litigation and emergency response.
TRANS RESILIENCE & ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
PROGRAM
The
prevailing social norms and legal system in Uganda remains very hostile towards
transgender persons. A transgender needs assessment study conducted by TNU in
2018 found that a significant proportion of transgender persons face a range of
discrimination, stigma and violence in all places. Over
41% of the transgender persons who participated in the study have experienced
violence in public places including health facilities, restaurants and even
schools. The above has also been a stumbling block in access to employment and
education among trans persons in Uganda. The
assessment found that although a significant number of the respondents had
attained secondary and tertiary education, the need for improved education
access was expressed by 56% and with employment highlighted as the greatest
need, reported by 67% of respondents. The needs assessment also revealed that
over 59% of respondents (trans persons) live in households in the lower income
quintile that is under two hundred thousand shillings (200,000ugx) monthly. There are a host of
barriers to employment among the trans population in Uganda from self-stigma,
unfriendly work environments to the general lack of jobs. It is important for
these barriers to be broken as it is widely acknowledged that conditions of
poverty and ill-health exacerbate each other in that poor health increases
expenditure on medical care and reduces productivity and hence income. The
constraints of low income in turn affect health negatively, through financial
barriers to accessing good quality medical care, dietary deprivation and
exposure to environmental risk factors such as poor sanitation and
overcrowding.
TNU
is taking steps towards tackling some of the underlying issues giving rise to
the above problems which include wide spread self-stigma, low skill set, low
awareness levels on government youth funding programs and the lack of organised
groupings among the trans population that would ease access to said government
funding are non-existent. Creating an alternative channel of income through
economic empowerment support and capacity building will protect trans persons
in Uganda from a life of desperation and improve their general mental welfare.
The
priority service components under this program include building social capital
networks through formation of groups, increasing financial literacy of the
groups,
entrepreneurship skills
development and linkage to seed capital and financial services.
NETWORK STRENGTHENING AND COORDINATION PROGRAM
We hope to build a sustainable network of trans
organizations in Uganda by continuously strengthening governance and management
structures, policies, and systems that align with our strategic plan.
We continuously make efforts to enhance the
sustainable capacity of our network’s member organizations by strengthening
their institutional capacity for the delivery of impactful programs. This is
done through the design and implementation of institutional strengthening plans
for TNU member organizations. Plus offering training opportunities to trans
leaders to enhance capacity to effectively advocate for the enhancement of
trans rights.
The priority service components under this program
include; establishing a trans innovations and a learning hub, regional focal
point organizations, systems strengthening for member organizations, and
regional coordination fora.
